Time Apart
by Sprklz03
Summary: What if the Astraeus crew wasn't on the ship when it launched?
1. Chapter 1

The stasis gel drained as Zane opened his eyes and looked up to the ceiling of his pod hole. Then he was in the foyer of the pod room and his stasis pod opened. He pulled his mask off and looked around. Fargo and Holly were coming out of their pods as well.

"Are we there?" Holly asked, placing her mask on the bed of her pod.

"I don't think so. I don't feel like we traveled anywhere." Fargo said.

"Zane get up." He slid out of his pod and looked to the interim head of global.

"Allison what are you…?"

"Allison?!"

"Jack!" Zane cursed in confusion as Carter came into the room and crashed Allison against him. "Jack what is happening?"

"The launch sequence has been hacked." Carter said. "Henry said someone else is controlling it." Allison and Grace shared a women glance and Zane looked passed the group down the hall. So much for space. Grace was up, pulling people out of their pods and shoving them out the door with Allison and Carter escorting them out.

"How did this happen?" Allison asked. The entire crew ran from the door of the ship and into the hallway. Suddenly, the big ass batteries turned back on and the whir of the FTL drive hit his ears. He pulled Holly further from the ship and pushed her out the door, ending up the only body in view of the ship.

Zane was slammed back into the wall from the force of the launch, and slid down to the floor.

He blinked his eyes open to see Allison supporting his neck.

"Fine, I'm fine." He said, trying to get her to stop fussing.

"You're bleeding is what you are." Allison said, but she did allow him to stand and as he did, shaking himself slightly to get the wind back into his lungs and a disapproving sigh from Allison, he looked into the launch bay; The Astraeus was gone.

In Allison's, or Fargo's however you looked at it now, office, the key members of the crew were gathered. Guess he was a key member, that was cool. Allison had an ice pack pressed to his head, the mother in her coming out for some reason as she pampered him. As the crew was discussing nothing, Senator Wen, Henry and Carter entered. His eyes brows came together in confusion. Usually Jo would be all over this and she wasn't here.

"We have lost a multi-billion dollar space ship." Wen said, flopping down in Allison's chair.

"That's all right. I crashed a multi-million dollar prototype once, and I'm still here. I think you're safe." Allison smiled down at Zane as Wen looked at him incredulously. He shrugged at her. He could give a rat's ass of what this woman thought of him, even if she had pardoned him of his past.

"So you're feeling ok?" Allison asked, that same smile on her face.

"Yeah. Where's Jo?" He asked. Allison's smile was suddenly gone as she glanced at Carter. The sheriff sighed, before glancing around the room.

"Jo is…" Zane looked at him further.

"That is a good question Mr. Donovan. Where is Ms. Lupo? She is the head of security and we did just have a major security breach." Wen said. Allison glanced over to her desk and saw Wen's hands on the letter Jo had given her before she left. Allison decided to stay and she squeezed Zane's shoulder.

"She resigned." Allison stated.

"What?" Zane was sitting up straighter. It took him a second to register that Jo would be here if she hadn't resigned. "But where is she?" Even after their fight, he figured she would be here if she knew he was hurt in anyway. They were still, well… something.

"She left." Carter said, slowly.

"Left where?" Senator Wen demanded.

"We don't know. She just needed some time." Allison said.

Zane glanced at the Doctor, and then at the sheriff. This was some joke they were playing on him. Jo was waiting around the corner, getting back at him for the many, many times he had done something to piss her off. Then Carter had his phone out.

"She's not answering." He said.

"When?" Zane hadn't noticed that he had spoken until Allison looked at him.

"Just after she said goodbye to you." Her reassuring squeeze on his shoulder wasn't exactly reassuring.

Jo pulled up to the side of the deserted beach and climbed out of her car. The breeze was salty, and softly blew her hair off her shoulders as she clambered down the embanked to the rock beach on the Northern California coast. She was still insisting that being out of Oregon completely was better than just being out of Eureka. She removed her boots and rolled up her jeans slightly. The roaring of the waves was comforting, like her mother hugging her again.

The last time she had been at the beach was just before her mother died and memories from that day came flooding back as she finally let her walls down: there was no one to be strong for here. Just her, and the sand and the waves and the seagulls. She found a large boulder and climbed onto, her toes finding grips in the old stone. She breathed in deeply, listening to the otters off in the nearby harbor.

Then it happened just like every time she tried to clear her head. That stupid last kiss would come back. The look in his eyes when she pulled away, the honesty in his voice when he said she was never a hook up. She sighed and opened her eyes to the grayness around her. Being out of Eureka didn't seem to be helping her try and figure out what she wanted. She breathed in deeply trying to clear her head again.

"All right. Let's go, get the epiphany over with." She said, stretching her neck down to her shoulders on each side. She breathed, just breathed. Taking in the clarity of the salt air, the freshness of the ocean, the lack of pollution. She breathed out all the toxins in her life; letting her love of a convicted felon out, the stress about her life in general, the still embarrassing jealousy of her best friend. She breathed out again, telling herself that she was starting to feel slightly more grounded.

Then the rain started. Pouring in freezing sheets she was soaked in moments.

"Oh great." She said, sliding down the rock and landing on the wet sand. She ran barefoot to the embankment and scrambled up it. By the time she got to her car, she had to dump her boots over to get the accumulated water out of them, and she was completely soaked through to the red lingerie she had allowed herself to take from the stack Zane had purchased for her. She slammed her door closed and pealed out of her jacket, turning the car on and blasting the heat. She huffed, blowing out the air from her lungs before pulling onto the high way to head back to the hole in the wall hotel she was staying in.

"Carter what is your problem?" She asked, yelling into the receiver of a pay phone. She had turned her cell on just in time to see 40 missed calls from her friend before the battery died from nonuse. "What part of a walkabout do you not understand?"

"Jo, listen to me." He said. She could tell that he was angry but she didn't understand why. He knew that she wasn't going to be reachable for the next couple months and she had only been gone for one. Allison had promised to "keep her job" open for if and when she came back. The Vegas sun was turning the phone stall into a sauna as she had pulled over to the first phone she saw, and she was regretting that now.

"Ok, I'm listening."

"We need you to come home." She could tell by the careful way that he spoke there was something that she wasn't being told. Then again, she had mentioned she was calling from a pay phone and most likely an unsecure line; unsecure and Eureka didn't bode well together.

"Why?" She obviously didn't care about unsecure lines.

"There was an issue." She laughed slightly at her friend.

"What kind of issue." She asked slowly.

"A security one." She huffed into the receiver hoping that she had got it into Carters ear. He hated when people breathed at him over the phone.

"You aren't going to tell me until I'm there are you?" She asked, fanning herself with her hand. The desert wasn't doing much for her either. She didn't know where else to go on said walkabout and had briefly thought of calling Taggart to ask him how this was supposed to go down. The beach had simply rained on her, the city found her attempted to be mugged; what a surprise that thief got when her fist came flying and he was in a head lock in a heartbeat. The desert was just making her spend too much money on water that she apparently wasn't peeing out.

"Nope." He said, popping his p over the phone.

"Fine. Give me two days." She said. She could probably make it in one, but she wasn't really in a hurry to get back to the chaos that was Eureka.

"Thank you." Carter said before she heard him solidly hang up the phone. Jo hung the phone up and fished in her purse for the keys to her car.


	2. Chapter 2

Zane was in Café Diem eating lunch with Emily, the new geologist Fargo had asked him to show around. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that she was attracted to him, she kept touching his arm and laughing at the stupidest thing he said. He even made stupid innuendo that made her laugh. Of course that was an experiment; when Emily didn't hit him in the arm or glare at him his stomach sank. He really missed Lupo. They had tried to contact her in every way possible but she wasn't responding to anything. She had been gone for five weeks and he was finally coming to the conclusion that maybe she didn't want to come back.

"Here we go. Eggs benedict with turkey sausage for Emily, and your usual Zane." Vincent placed his food in front of him. "Here you go Carter. Very berry smoothie." Zane's attention snapped from his food and over to the Sheriff, eyes questioning the drink. Was she back? Was she hiding? Carter looked over to the younger physicist and shook his head: _no. she isn't back._ Zane slumped only slightly, obviously not as close to letting Lupo go as he thought he was.

"So, after breakfast do I get to see my lab?" Emily asked. Zane pushed the thoughts of Lupo to the back of his head.

"Oh I will show you your lab." He said, flashing his Donovan smirk. Part of him was happy to see the blush spread across Emily's checks. He still had it.

Carter walked out of Café Diem shaking his head. Yes, everyone in town had tried to contact Jo at one point or another, but if she came back and saw Zane flirting with someone she would leave again, possibly for good this time. Unless of course she came back and didn't want Zane, but Carter couldn't see that happening in any time line; as crazy as Zane made her, Jo loved him. She loved everything about him, the good honest side she knew, and the bad boy trouble maker he had become once they got back from their trip.

Because Zane was Zane, no matter what time line, and that good honest person was in there somewhere; This Zane just hadn't really been given the chance to accept it. Carter took a sip of his smoothie, a guilty pleasure in attempting to think that Jo was still here. Andy was on the phone when he got back to the office.

It was unusual that his Deputy wasn't smiling, but this time he really wasn't. Andy was frowning. Jack didn't know that the robot could frown.

"Yes. General." Jack froze. General? As in General Mansfield. "I will contact Dr. Blake immediately with the details." Now Jack was scared. Something that had to do with Mansfield and Allison was not good. Andy touched his cheek and hung up the phone. "We have a problem boss." Jack was already dialing Allison's number.

Zane had dumped Emily into the logic diamond lab and she had turned into a little kid at Disneyland. He had retired to the nullweps lab when Fargo came in.

"Did you take Emily to her lab?" Fargo said as Zane was going over information from the botched Astreaus launch.

"Sort of." He said, frowning at the launch sequence. If anyone could find the Trojan horse virus it was him. "She saw the logic diamonds and squealed. I left her there." Fargo huffed. "Plus, Parish hates that I am using his lab for this, so it was a bonus." Fargo laughed shortly. Zane was pretty happy that Fargo was suddenly on his side against the rest of Eureka who saw him as a convict.

"Well make sure and go get her later." The door slid open and Zane glanced up.

"Hey Carter." He said, and then going back to his virus search.

"Hey Zane." Fargo looked over to the Sheriff at the Sheriffs tone. It was quiet and cautious. Zane turned and crossed his arms over his chest. The last time Carter had said his name like that, he was arrested for conspiring to steal the DED device.

"What's up Carter?" He said. The Sheriff shoved his hands into his pockets, and Zane's snarky attitude faded. Carter was scared, and however scared he had been since coming to Eureka, this was different. Carter took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, the lab door opened again and Allison came rushing in wearing scrubs.

"Fargo. I need you in the infirmary." She said, coming up and clasping the Tiny Dictator by the sleeve. But then her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and hit answer. "What?" Her breathing was heavy and she looked pale and drawn. "No, you close that wound get her stabilized and grab the crash cart. I found Fargo, I will be back soon." She hit the end button a little too hard and tugged on Fargo again. Zane suddenly realized that his heart was beating almost as fast as Allison's looked like it was beating. This wasn't good. "Now Fargo."

"Allison what…?" Zane wanted to block out the answer to the question. He just wanted to go back to trying to find the Trojan horse virus and find the ship.

"You're Jo's blood type come on." And then Fargo was running with Allison. Zane watched them leave; Jo was back. And she was bleeding. And she might need the crash cart. And she was bleeding so much that she needed someone to give her blood. And there was a wound that wasn't closed…

Jack looked over at Zane to see that the scientist hadn't moved. He was still standing with his arms crossed over his chest starring out the door. That scared Jack more than the form of Jo bleeding profusely from her left side had.

"Zane?" Blue eyes met blue eyes as Zane looked at him.

"What…" Carter could see that Zane was struggling with words, something that never happened, in either time line.

"She was in a car accident on her way back…" He looked down to his shoes and by the time he looked back up, Zane was gone. Jack didn't think twice but turned following Zane to the outside of the infirmary. Jack was used to running, he did it quite frequently in his job but Zane was giving him a run for his money. The Sheriff caught him just outside the doors and hooked his arms around Zane. "You can't go in there."

"Let go Carter. JO!" Zane gave up a pretty good fight, but he was unfocused on anything other than the women lying on the other side of the door. He was also getting angry. The last time Zane was angry he almost broke the infirmary bed and the only person who could handle him was Jo. Finally, Jack pulled out his cuffs and wrangled Zane to a pipe in the hallway, cuffing him to the pipe. Zane apparently didn't realize what was happening because when Carter let go of him, he took off toward the infirmary again. He yelled in pain as his shoulder yanked him. "What the hell Carter?" He was fuming and Jack was doubled over to catch his breath.

"Oh look, Donovan is back in hand cuffs. What a surprise." Jack turned to see General Mansfield walking down the hall with his hat under his arm and escorted by Larry. Zane was too angry at Jack to even realize that the General had shown up.

"Uncuff me Carter." The banging on the pipe made Jack turn back.

"You can't go in there yet. She is still in surgery." Zane tugged on the cuffs again attempting to break the chain.

"I can help."

"Zane listen to you. You don't know anything about surgery. Jo is with Allison, let Allison do her job." Zane pulled on the cuffs again before slumping down to the ground leaning against the pipe.

"Stay out of it Donovan. Lupo will be fine." General Mansfield was not aware of the recent change in Jo and Zane's relationship, so his tone was dismissive and patronizing.

"Sir." Jack said. He knew that he was going out on a dangerous limb but the Zane who had fallen for Jo and the one sitting at his feet were no longer so different to the time travelers. "Zane has been pardoned by Senator Wen, he was chosen for the Astreaus mission and has been working to discover the security breach and the virus that took over the launch for the last month. Jo is a friend of his and he is worried about her. We haven't really heard from her for five weeks and I believe that he was every right to be this upset with the fact that she was in a very serious car accident." When Jack glanced back at Zane, the physicist was staring at him helplessly. "The cuffs are for his own good right now, if he crashed a surgery Allison would kill him." Zane's head hit the wall behind him and he breathed out.

"Carter are you saying that Donovan is somehow less of a felon because he charmed Senator Wen?"

"Hey." Zane said. Jack put his hand out to tell him to be quiet.

"I am saying that Zane…" He emphasized his first name to the General who still insisted as seeing him as a felon, "Has shown that he is very reliable in the last six months. He hasn't been arrested since the DED device was stolen and he was a victim in that case as much as we were. Someone stole his designs, his sign in code and framed him for the theft." Jack breathed in, hoping the General wouldn't see what he didn't say; That Grant had helped to steal the DED device to further shatter time travel protocols.

Before Mansfield could say anything, the infirmary door opened and Allison came out, her scrubs now completely covered in blood. Jack forgot about anyone else in the hallway as he looked at his girlfriend covered in his best friend's blood. Somewhere he heard the clanging of metal on metal as he approached Allison.

"She's stable. We got her wounds closed and set her ribs but she is still unconscious and she lost a lot of blood." Jack didn't hear much after she is stable. Jo was fine. Jo was not dying. He didn't have to bury his best friend as he had feared when she got there an hour ago. "Jack?" He blinked, coming out of his thoughts and looked at his girlfriend.

"What?"  
"He can go in now. You can un-cuff him from the wall." It was in a daze that Carter unlocked the cuff around Zane's wrist. "Careful Zane. She is still unconscious." Zane nodded and moved into the infirmary where Fargo was putting his jacket back on.

Zane moved with tunnel vision. Jo was pale and motionless with tubes stuck in her. Very rarely did people in Eureka need to have tubes stuck in them at the infirmary. He got to her bed unaware or uncaring of the fact that Mansfield had followed him in. His fingers linked through Jo's and he leaned over her. The last time he saw her he had told her she was more than a hook up. She had told him to be safe in space and yet she was the one who had gotten injured. He kissed her, just needing to assure himself that she was actually lying in this bed unconscious, pulling back and still waiting for the threat of a Taser.

"What exactly are you doing Donovan?" He was still looking at Jo's face, mentally willing her eyes to open and see him.

"Come on JoJo. This is nothing." When she didn't respond to him the way he had wanted her too, he kissed her again. "Come back to me Jo come on."

"Donovan." The hand on his shoulder made him turn. Jack was behind him, squeezing his shoulder. Mansfield looked the same way he had when Zane crashed the sky cruiser.

"What?" He shouted back. He was in no mood to deal with the General's pompous whollier-than-thou attitude. Not with Jo unconscious and however stable she was, she was not threatening to arrest him like she normally did. How badly he wanted her to arrest him right now, anything to show that she was going to be ok. Jack's eyes had closed when Zane yelled but he didn't care.

"What exactly do you think is actually going to happen when you commit sexual harassment in front of the owner of this facility?"

"I have been sexually harassing Jo since I got here. And I only do that when she is conscious." The words coming out of his mouth were not really what he meant to say, but it was the truth. He turned back to Jo, brushing a strand of hair off her face. "Come on Jojo." He said again.

"Carter, arrest him."

"Sir. Zane didn't do anything." Allison said. He didn't care if Carter arrested him, he could him handcuff to Jo and she could read him his rights when she woke up. His mind pushed the "if" away, stubbornly focusing on "when".

"And he is not harassing her." He heard Fargo speak up from the next bed.

"I know the definition of harassment."

"If Jo were up, it wouldn't technically be unwelcome." Fargo said. Zane smiled, thinking about the reaction he would have gotten for kissing Jo while she was unable to either kiss him back and take control, or tase him for embarrassing her.

"Excuse me?" Mansfield.

"Get over it General. Lupo's my girlfriend and I'm not going anywhere until she wakes up and arrests me herself." Zane glanced back at the General, noting the look on Carters face. He assumed it was by the use of his word girlfriend but he didn't care. When Jo woke up, he was going to pester her relentlessly until she agreed to be his girlfriend. He was not going to risk her being in the hospital again when he didn't know what happened.

"I'm sorry Lupo is your what?" Mansfield said.

"Girlfriend. Get over it." He left Jo's bedside only to bring a chair over and place it where he had been standing. That was when the movement caught his eye. Jo's finger had twitched. He looked up to her face, knowing that she was not slipping into a coma and feeling slightly better than ten seconds before. But the look on her face was terrified.

"Zane." Jack said, pulling him back just in time as Jo's hand came flying to his head. Allison jumped into motion instantly, going to Jo's bedside and holding her arms down. Suddenly Jo was flailing, and that horrendous noise was coming from her. She was screaming.

**AN: I do not own Eureka, but I appreciate the creators for letting me and everyone else play with their creations.**


	3. Chapter 3

Jo was thrashing and screaming, causing Allison to bark orders louder than normal.

"Hold her down. I'll get the sedative." Zane responded without thinking and moved to the foot of Jo's bed grabbing her ankles to help hold her down. "Zane don't." He didn't understand, until Jo's foot connected with his chest, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to hit the floor. "Get her restrained, don't touch her ankles." Allison said. Carter was helping him

"What the hell?" He asked, standing just in time to see Allison shoot a tranq into Jo. Her flailing limbs subsided and the nurse team strapped her arms onto the bed.

"Fargo." Allison and Fargo shared a look, full of a conversation that Zane didn't understand.

"Not again." The Director ran a hand through his hair and looked over at his friend.

"I haven't heard her make that noise since she got here." Allison said, brushing her hair off her forehead.

"How did that come back?" Fargo asked, reaching out to touch Jo's leg then thinking better about it; whether he didn't want to get kicked or didn't want Zane to punch him, Zane couldn't tell.

"I'll call Grace." Fargo nodded to Allison's cryptic statement.

"Wanna fill the rest of us in here?" Carter said. Zane was still starring at Jo, who was back to resting comfortably without thrashing.

"When Jo first got here, she suffered from pretty severe PTSD." Fargo said.

"Unfortunately her last mission with the Rangers went rather south. It was that mission that made me transfer her here." Mansfield said. Zane looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Mansfield was staring at Jo.

"She didn't sleep for a week, but she eventually was able to suppress the memory." Allison said. "All we could determine is that every time something touched her ankles, if she had somehow thrown her pillow down there, or the blankets got tangled around them, her episode got far worse. I know you were trying to help Zane. I forgot you weren't here." Zane nodded at Allison before looking back toward the bed.

"What do we do?" Jack asked.

"Wait till she wakes up." Allison said. "Grace is on her way with her PTSD interfacing so hopefully we will be able to suppress the memory again. The problem is Jo never talked about it so I am not sure what unburied the memory here."

"Could it have been the pain?" Fargo asked. Zane glared at him. Jo had the highest tolerance to pain he knew of, and he didn't like thinking that something was strong enough to make her scream like that.

"No. I think it had something to do with the accident itself. Otherwise she would have relapsed when she got shocked." Allison said. Zane looked at her curiously for a second. Jo had never been shocked. Then his brain came back to him and realized it must have happened before the time jump. He glanced at Mansfield, wondering if the General caught on. He didn't seem to though. It must have been an issue that wasn't reported to him.

Grace came in at that moment, the box with her PTSD interfacing in her hand. Henry followed shortly coming to stand next to Jack.

"What happened?" Henry asked.

"She was going through an intersection in Vegas when someone ran a red light and t-boned her." Jack said.

"I got the notification when someone tried to look up her medical records. Most of them are classified, so when I got the hit I called the hospital and had her air lifted here." Allison shifted uncomfortably next to Jo's bed as she placed the bot onto the skin of her neck.

"Because I have access to her entire file." Allison supplied in explanation as to why she was brought here. Allison shared a quick glance with Henry, Jack and then Fargo. Zane assumed it had something to do with the travelers, maybe the giant bullet she removed from Jo's chest not too long ago. Zane remembered that day very clearly.

He had still been very confused as to why Jo hadn't let him go back to Federal, but had fought her hardest to prove that he was innocent. When he had heard through the grapevine that the Head of security was in emergency surgery for a bullet to the chest, something in him knotted. The woman who believed him, the only person who believed him in this town had been shot. Zane tried to tell himself that he was worried with this weird new Jo out of the picture that he would go back to being the fall guy for every stupid thing that went wrong. But as he looked at her now, the wonders of Eureka technology having closed every wound and returning her skin to that perfect, unblemished caramel, he knew it was something else.

From his first day in Eureka, Jo had entranced him, even when she was arresting him. The sting of her rejection never fully went away; if Zane Donovan could do one thing, it was hold a grudge. So of course we went after the one person who held a grudge just as well as he did. When Jo was lying in the hospital after that surgery last time, he had snuck in, being noticed only by Allison. The Doctor had smiled at him briefly before motioning over to Jo's bed. He watched her, remembering the way she had looked at him when he was thought drunk. When she had worked so hard to clear his name and keep him in Eureka. The way his body had responded a few weeks before that when she had shoved him against a wall in an angry daze. The way he had gotten a little zing of pleasure whenever he noticed her walking by his lab, glancing in as casually as possible to check his progress on the new sky cruiser.

He had found himself hoping with every fiber of his being that she would be ok. She would wake up to arrest him again. He felt that same need now. Even if she wanted to punch him for kissing her in her sleep, he just wanted her awake.

The screen blinked on as Grace turned on her PTSD device. Basically it was a memory recorder. The device sought through the memories, recording the spikes in serotonin in the brain and recorded the ones that spiked it. But it also had the function of a memory player. When hooked up to the proper equipment, those administering the tests had the ability to watch the memories unfold. That was what was happening now. Memories from Jo's head were flashing on the screen.

Carter's first day as Sheriff.

A desert and Jo surrounded by men twice her size. She socked one of them in the arm and continued to the Humvee.

He suddenly came on the screen, standing in the Sheriff's jail cell smirking at her. She pointed a gun at him. He remembered that day, it caused the mental note; don't piss off the girl with the gun. He never really lived by the rule though.

The next flash was odd, it was the same cell only he could tell it was later but it was only a flash of the memory.

The next was worse on the odd scale. Jo was fighting off guys in out dated Uniforms as they tried to arrest her, MP was painted in white across their helmets.

Allison shut the screen off, Zane coming to the conclusion from the tension in the five people around him that the last memory had been from 1947.

"Well, she is not thinking about it now." Allison said. "We'll just have to wait till the drugs wear off." She said. Zane moved forward, linking his finger through hers again and taking a seat next to her bed. He didn't care what people thought, he was going to be here when she woke up. End of story.

**AN: Don't own.**


	4. Chapter 4

_The bed was anything but comfortable. It really couldn't even been classified as a bed, more of an elevated rectangle of wire. They didn't care if she was comfortable. In fact, they were trying to make her as uncomfortable as possible. She knew that when they latched the electrode bracelets onto her ankle._

_ The car battery was just out of sight under her bed, she knew it was there. They had ambushed them, taken no mercy and she wasn't sure how many were left alive or why. She tugged again at the restraints on her wrists, only succeeding in further embedding them in her skin. What sicko thought up wire as a way to restrain someone? Fact was it was working. Every time she moved the wire cut further into her skin so she stopped moving. _

_ She wasn't sure where the cattle prod had come from, she didn't think they herded cows here but they obviously did. They loved to shoot her with it. Speaking of being shot, the bullet in her side was still lodged in there, making it rather difficult to breath. The knife cuts all over her chest were burning as well, but it wasn't so bad; until they turned the battery on. _

_ Just thinking about that sent a shot of the strongest pain she had ever felt through her body. Being tased is one thing, being electrocuted by a battery that was meant to run a 4,000 pound car was beyond description. It was worse when they decided to blow up a bucket full of broken glass five feet from her bed, the shards slicing through the skin on the left side of her body. _

Her entire body felt like it had been hit by a truck. She knew that consciousness was just around the corner, but it felt wrong. Something was clamping her wrists. She started to panic. What if the last six years had been the dream and when she awoke, she would be back in the filthy room hooked up to a car battery. She tugged at her wrists, but they wouldn't budge. Then something was squeezing her hand. She noticed the bed beneath her. It was comfortable. An actual bed. Her heart rate started to slow.

"Jojo?" Her eyes shot open at the pet name and the eyes she was met with looked tired and bloodshot. But they were there, hanging over her and desperately searching her face. As her heart slowed back down from the shock she noticed the tingles shooting up her arm. She moved her fingers as if testing, and he squeezed again in response. Why was he here? She started at him, shocked, slowly remembering that he should have been on Titan. "Allison." He called.

"Allison?" She asked. The word scratched her dry throat and made her ribs hurt. Allison Blake indeed was there, as she came into Jo's line of site.

"Hey Jo. Welcome back." She said smiling. Allison pushed a button and the pressure on her wrists subsided. Jo tried to sit up, but Zane put a hand on her shoulder. She looked between the two, pretty sure the last thing she remembered before that horrible dream was being in Vegas. What where they both doing in…. She glanced around the familiarity of the infirmary changing her question. "You were air lifted here when the hospital couldn't access your medical records. Good thing, because they wouldn't know that you had surgery six months ago. I had to delete that one completely." Allison said, Jo's mind shooting back to the bullet in her chest. She tried again to sit up, and again Zane's hand pushed on her shoulder.

"Stop it." She said, shaking off his hand and sitting up. She however couldn't bring herself to let go of his hand, there solid and reassuring that she was no longer in Afghanistan. "What are you doing here?" She asked. She realized too late how that came out; accusatory. But Zane just smiled at her, that cocky Donovan grin stirring something where she didn't want to admit.

"It's good to see you too Jojo."

"That's not what I meant Zane." She looked over at Allison who was fiddling with the screen. "Titan? I had six Donovan free months, I needed that." She said. Zane smirk softened into a smile as he looked her.

"Someone hijacked the launch. Carter got every off the ship before it disappeared." He said, squeezing her hand gently.

"Zane, you should get some rest." Allison said.

"No." Zane's eyes never left her face; he was staring at her like a hungry lion.

"Zane. I need to talk to Jo, get out." Jo laughed at Allison's bipolar tactics and then gasped. Her ribs hurt. "You have three broken ribs." Then it came back, the intersection that stupid silver Volvo that ran the light. Flying glass, horns honking gas tanks exploding. Her hand jerked in Zane's but she squeezed tighter needing his presence.

"I'm not leaving Allison." He said taking a seat in the chair he had vacated to stand over her. Allison glanced at her with a question.

"It's fine." She said, leaning back against the pillows. She didn't want him to leave either. Allison pushed a button on the device in her hand and a plasma shield generated around them.

"Silence shield. Nice." Zane muttered. Jo looked to her friend. Allison breathed in and looked at Jo.

"It's about your PTSD." Allison stated bluntly. Jo shook her head.

"It's gone."

"The bruise on my chest says otherwise." Zane said. Jo glanced at him before back at Allison.

"You are relapsing. I have Grace's PTSD bots but once the sedative took hold you were dreaming normally. You did kick Zane though." Jo smiled slightly in apology but he just squeezed her hand.

It felt so good to have his hand in hers again. While she was gone, every time her mind cleared the cocky jackass would invade it.

"Why?" She asked.

"I don't know. You won't tell me what happened, so I can't determine a trigger." Allison said. Jo had never talked about the mission, not even to her superior officer. She had found when she was rescued that three of the five man team was still alive including her. Johnson and Harley were dead. But she was told they died from a bullet to the brain so that eased her; it wasn't painful and wasn't prolonged. Kale, one of the surviving members had over dosed two years later, leaving behind a note saying he couldn't do it anymore. Rogers just never spoke about it like Jo.

"I know what causes it. I will be fine Allison." Jo said. The gas tank of the Volvo had exploded, the pulse wave shattering her driver's side window. Allison looked at her.

"I still want to keep you here for the night." Jo didn't argue. She could tell that made Zane nervous but she smiled at him and squeezed his hand again as her eyes closed.

Zane woke the next morning with a crick in his neck. Sleeping in a chair was not the best idea. The smell of coffee was wafting toward him and he blinked over to Carter, who was blowing his coffee at Zane's face. Carter smiled and motioned with his head. Zane glanced at Jo, she was sleeping soundly. She hadn't had another episode that night so she had slept through it.

"What's up?" He asked as he got into the hallway, stretching his neck out.

"Thought you could use a break." Carter said.

"Thanks, but I think Allison will let Jo go home today and I want to be there to get her home."

"Donovan. The fact that you know where Lupo lives is terrifying." Mansfield was suddenly there. Zane glared at him. The man with his stupid grudge against Zane for stupid stuff done by a kid angered him.

"I've slept there too." Zane had the pleasure of seeing that vein pop out in Mansfield's neck.

"That's my house Zane, don't remind me." Carter said. Mansfield looked at the Sheriff curiously. "Jo's house got blown up. Then burned down." Carter glanced at him and Zane smiled sheepishly. That was the day Jo actually let him kiss her and didn't run.

"Not my fault. Blame Holly."

"Blame me for what?" He glanced over to the red haired astrophysicist who tended to talk too much.

"Burning Jo's house down." Her eyes widened.

"Oh. That was just a side effect and I had no idea that the neural linguistic therapy would download instantly into Café Diem, and then spread to all the others music. And you were the one who took it out on Jo's house. You know you never really explained why you felt the need to burn down Jo's house out of all the houses in Eureka it was odd to me that you chose Jo's. And then she forgave you for it that was something that I don't think anyone saw coming after the way she talked to you…"

"Holly." Carter said, clasping her shoulders.

"Sorry. I babble." She said. "Oh, now it's awkward." She said, fiddling with her fingers. The awkwardness was broken as a scream echoed out of the infirmary.

"NO!" He was through the door before anyone else and saw Jo rolled into a ball on her side. "No. Zane." He heard the group behind him come a halt, his heart beating as she called his name in her sleep. He would have preferred it was a sex dream, but he could tell by the look on her face that it was a nightmare. He unfroze as her legs stretched out and he was by her bed, gently shaking her awake.

"Jojo? I'm right here Jo." He shook her a little harder and her eyes opened. The lights flashed behind his eyes and he was suddenly on the floor, his left cheek on fire. Why was he obsessed with this woman who had caused two injuries within 24 hours?

"Zane." Suddenly her hands where on his face, directing his head so she could look at his cheek. "I'm sorry, you startled me." She said, smoothing back his hair. He blinked up and looked at her horrified chocolate eyes. Before he could say anything though, her lips where on his, her hand clutching the back of his head. Between the throbbing in his cheek and the gradual throbbing starting elsewhere, his mind only registered the throat being cleared vaguely. He pulled back, looking and Jo and pushing some hair behind her ear.

"Lupo. Would you like to advise me as to what exactly is going on here?" Jo looked over the general and Zane noticed the sliver of back that showing. He reached around her, closing her gown and helping her into a standing position. She swayed slightly as she stood.

"Back in bed." He said quietly to her. She blinked up at him, and didn't argue. That unnerved him more than most things.

"General." Jo said, sitting down and adjusting so that her ribs didn't hurt so much. She absently reached out and grabbed Zane's hand, causing him to glance down at her. She wasn't actually sure why the General was here, she looked questioningly at Carter. Allison was looking at something on the screen, and came bolting over just as General Mansfield was opening his mouth.

"Jo. I just need to adjust something." Allison leaned in, making it look like she was adjusting the PTSD interface on Jo's neck. "We are not in our own time. That trip to 1947 was not a dream and according to Mansfield, you hate Zane." Jo did the best attempt she could to keep her heart beat from raising, but the monitor on the screen above her gave her away. She released Zane's hand as if burned. It wasn't a dream. She did go back to 1947. Zane had proposed and then walked out and when she had returned to the office, he hated her. Her panic set in, her life suddenly turned upside for the second time in ten minutes.

"Allison." She said. Allison gripped her as Zane sat down on the bed, reaching for her hand again.

"It's fine. Just breathe." Allison said. Jo listened, inhaling a large breath and feeling the comfort of Zane's hand. She glanced over to him, seeing the worry in his eyes. She squeezed his hand and then glanced at Allison. She and Zane had come to an understanding of sorts in this time line and her walk about proved to her that she wanted nothing more than the man sitting next to her.

"Lupo?" Jo looked over to Mansfield, as her mind starting wiring. In response, Allison yanked the interface off her neck.

"Ow. General. Um…" She glanced at Zane, then at Holly who starring wide eyed at her. "Zane has not done anything… for lack of a better word bad since he let…" She tried to remember the first time she met this Zane; he was in jail for… "The monkey's out, why did you do that?" She asked him. He just smiled at her. "He was chosen for the Astreaus mission and pardoned by the Senator. He's… different." She concluded looking at him. His smile was gone as he looked at her.

"He's a convicted felon."  
"He's a pardoned convicted felon, and people change." She snapped back. As the General opened his mouth to speak, Allison stepped in.

"General. As Jo's doctor I am going to have to ask that you leave her to rest." Carter smiled at his girlfriend, nodded to Jo and pulled Holly out of the room. Mansfield glanced at her briefly then turned and left, pulling out his phone and calling Fargo.

"Thanks Allison." Allison smiled and moved away, taking the PTSD interface with her, leaving Jo alone with Zane.

"So." He said. "You really think I've changed?" He asked.

"Haven't you?" She responded. He smiled again, a real smile and not some sexy come and get it smirk. He nodded before leaning in and kissing her. He started laughing into her mouth and she cursed as the stupid heart monitor gave her away.

"You like it Jojo." He said, his come and get it smirk back in place.

"Don't flatter yourself." She said, and completely contradicting herself by leaning in and kissing him again.

"I should get going. I think I was really close to getting some answers about the Astreaus the other day." She nodded, letting him kiss her forehead before he left. He still looked really tired and the bruise blooming on his left cheek probably wasn't helping. She swallowed her guilt; she hadn't expected him to be so close to her when she woke up and it wasn't her fault it was her trained reflex to hit first and ask questions never.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Jo." She looked over as Fargo entered.

"Hey Fargo." The director sat down on the edge of her bed. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Need any more blood?" Jo's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?" Fargo laughed, looking at her before relaxing into a smile.

"Apparently we are the same blood type. You had lost a lot when they brought you." He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the needle mark on the inside of his elbow.

"Oh. Thank you." She said, more moved than she would ever admit. True the 5 travelers were closer to each other than they had ever been before, but she hadn't expected Fargo to willing give up his blood for her. "It was that bad huh?" She asked. She watched her friend pale slightly.

"You weren't responding to anything. I thought you were gonna die." He said, reaching out squeezing her hand. She squeezed back and smiled at him.

"You can't get rid of me that easily Fargo." She said. He let go of her hand and laughed with her.

"So. Will you be staying in Eureka again?" He asked. Jo breathed in through her nose, and exhaled. Zane had invaded her mind every time she attempted to empty it, but there was always an underlying ache to see her friends again. This crazy, chaotic little town was her home; the characters that inhabited it were her family.

"Yeah I guess." She said finally. Fargo smiled; she loved watching his face light up like that, it was almost as if he was a child on Christmas morning.

"Good. Because I need a Head of Security. Your boyfriend is pissing off Parish more than I ever could." Jo laughed briefly, before the action hurt her side.

"I hate broken bones." She said, leaning her head back against the pillow.

"I would think you would be used to them." Allison said coming over with a pile of clothes in her hands. "You are all set. Keep those ribs wrapped tightly and take the pain killers if you need to. Don't be stubborn about it." Jo smiled in response to her friend and sat up.

"I will see you tomorrow morning, 8 am to finish up some paper work Jo." Fargo said, hoping off her bed and practically running to meet Holly in the hallway.

"Great." She said, sitting up and reaching for the white t-shirt Allison brought her.

"Need some help?"

"No I got it thanks. Not the first time with broken ribs." Jo said smiling at the doctor. "Allison can I ask you something?"

"Of course Jo." Allison sat down in Zane's vacated chair, placing her tablet on the side table.

"When I hit Zane," She started slowly still guilty about the black eye he was sure to have. "When I woke up, I thought he was… I mean I thought that we never…" She took a deep breath; almost sure that Allison knew where she was going with this. "I thought he was my Zane. That something had happened on Founder's Day and everything was a dream." Allison nodded.

"I assessed as much from the thoughts running through your head. You were pretty confused when Mansfield didn't like you holding Zane's hand." Jo nodded.

"Why would that have happened?" Allison gave her a pensive look, trying to connect the dots.

"The best explanation I have is that the incident that caused your PTSD was in the other timeline. So when we discussed it and you were relapsing, you were brought, mentally at least, back to that time." Jo nodded slowly, the ache that she had been able to burry about losing her Zane coming back only slightly at the realization of the loss of him again.

"Thanks Allison. I guess I will see you tomorrow." She said, standing up and reaching for her clothes.

She found him in Parish's lab, head bent over a keyboard as usual. Parish was fiddling with what looked like the RSS.

"You aren't turning that on again are you?" She asked, eyeing the thing warily; she was already mad at the Volvo she didn't need to be mad at everything else.

"No Lupo. I'm adjusting the signal." She frowned at the Doctor before moving across the lab to Zane. "And can you get him out of here?" Jo looked back and shook her head; Parish really was an annoying person.

"Hey Jo." Zane said standing up. "You're out." He said.

"Yes. And I was about to head home when I realized I don't have a car." Her beautiful blue little Subaru was probably only half a Subaru. That asshole had hit her going a good clip. "I was wondering if you could give me a ride." She said, eyeing him speculatively. His normal stubble was a little darker than usual. His eyes were extra blue due to the bloodshot of no sleep and his hair was dirty and full of three day old gel.

"Sure. Can you ride the bike?" Jo arched her eyebrows at him.

"Oh I can ride the bike." She said softly to him, watching in pleasure as his eyes darkened.

"Very funny." She smiled at him as he shook his head.

"Actually maybe I should drive." He looked about to fall off his feet.

"No. I'll take you home." He turned around and saved whatever he was working on before grabbing his jacket. "You know your house is almost done." He said. "They are just putting the finishing touches on the shooting range." Jo almost squealed.

"Oh good. I won't have to stay at S.A.R.A.H. much longer." She said, running a hand through her hair so it was tucked behind her ear.

"Am I taking you there?" He asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, most of my stuff is there." She said. She hadn't packed everything to take with her, and Allison had given her permission to leave some stuff in the guest room. Zane nodded at her but didn't say anything else until he handed her the extra helmet to his bike.

Zooming through the woods outside Global Dynamics, Jo gripped Zane's waist, part of her mind praying that he didn't fall asleep and crash them into a tree. She had spent enough time in the infirmary thank you. The other part of her mind was obsessed with breathing him in. She couldn't wrap her brain around the fact that she had gone five weeks without him. The leather of his jacket was mixing with that spray cologne he used, but she could tell he probably hadn't resprayed himself in a while. She tightened her arms a little at the thought of him staying in the hospital with her for the last three days.

When they pulled through the gate to S.A.R.A.H.'s main door, she yanked Zane off the bike with her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, but he obliging slid off the bike.

"You are exhausted Zane. You need to rest too." He made a face at her, but again didn't argue as Jo dragged him down the stairs.

"Hello Jo." S.A.R.A.H said as the door swung open. "I have missed you."

"Hi S.A.R.A.H. I missed you too." She said smiling.

"And you have brought Zane. How thoughtful. He has not visited in some time."

"Zane. How dare you abandon S.A.R.A.H." Jo said.

"I'm sorry. You know you're my favorite house S.A.R.A.H." Jo laughed as Zane removed his jacket.

"You both are registering high levels of exhaustion. Would you like some coffee?"

"No thanks S.A.R.A.H. We are just going to relax." Jo said, forcing Zane to sit down on the extended part of the sectional sofa. She watched as he practically melted into the fabric, closing his eyes and propping his feet up. "Told you." She said, sitting down next to him and tucking her feet under her. She reached over to grab the remote and didn't see Zane's eyes crack open.

She also didn't seem him reach out, grab her around the waist and pull her close to him wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She squeaked only slightly before pinching him in the side and turning the television on as Zane started lightly brushing her arm.

"Don't be so cocky Lupo."

" Zane, I have just received an e-mail from Dr. Blake. Please be careful with Jo until she heals fully." S.A.R.A.H. said. Jo scoffed from the back of her throat and rolled her eyes.

"It's fine S.A.R.A.H. It's not like I haven't had broken ribs before." Zane's hand paused and she noticed the slight tensing in his torso. She looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled. "What?" He shook his head and resumed his perusal of her arm. She leaned her head against his shoulder, clicking the channel over to The Jersey Shore. Zane kissed the top of her head, and took to ignoring the show and sinking into the comfort of the couch.

"Good evening Sheriff Carter." Jo looked behind the couch to see Carter walking in. She smiled at the houses use of a whisper as Zane had fallen asleep about twenty minutes before. Jo put her finger to her lips, and pointed to the kitchen. Carter nodded and Jo slowly untangled herself from Zane.

"He ok?" Carter asked.

"Yeah. Just tired." Jo said, slipping onto a stool. Jack went over and removed a beer from the fridge, tipping the bottle at Jo in question and she nodded. "Thanks." She said, clasping the bottle top and twisting it off.

"So. How are you?" Jo looked up and smiled.

"Happy to be home." She said, glancing over at the sleeping body on the couch.

"Is he moving in too?" Jo looked back at her friend.

"What would make you think that?" Carter shrugged, and then smiled.

"He was with you the whole time you know. Even after you beat the crap out of him. Just like the other Zane." Jo glanced down and breathed in. However her original Zane would have been at her bedside if she was in the infirmary, for some reason she suddenly wasn't comfortable distinguishing between the time line Zanes. She looked up at Carter sighed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" This time it was Carter's turn to sigh.

"Jo. You still don't know what you are going to do?"

"I don't know Carter. I missed everyone here, and I thought about Zane a lot but…"

"But he's not good enough anymore?" Jo sighed.

"When I woke up the second time, the time I punched him, I thought…" She breathed in. Allison had figured it out without Jo needing to speak it out loud, and now looking back it seemed even more ridiculous.

"You thought what?" Carter prompted. The man was almost as curious as Zane most of the time.

"I thought that 1947 was a dream. I thought that maybe I had sustained some injury and ended up in the infirmary and the Zane I opened my eyes to was the Zane who proposed to me. He was the Zane who loved me." She breathed out. "When Allison told me that it wasn't a dream, that we actually jumped back to 1947… for a moment… it felt like I lost him all over again." She covered her blush of embarrassment by taking a drink. Carter was simply nodding.

"Sometimes I wake up when Allison has left already, thinking that the whole thing was a dream." Jo's eyes softened as she looked at her best friend. The two people in the town who were not recognized super geniuses, and they had found a kinship in each other.

Carter was almost as protective of Jo as he was of Zoe and the fact that they shared the fear that their lives would crumble again was a comfort. They didn't know the probability of worm holing again, or if the bridge device even worked most of the time. She had ordered the thing destroyed, but that wouldn't prevent Beverly from reconstructing it again, and reopening the worm hole.

"Really?" She asked. Carter nodded, looking down at the counter. "You aren't just saying that to make me feel better." His head shook for a second before a grin split his.

"Kind of." She threw her bottle cap at him. "No, but I do wake up sometimes thinking I still haven't asked Allison out. Thinking that they haven't moved it and then I hear the shower running and reality comes back. He is right there Jo. That is reality. And he was right there the second you got out of surgery until the time you kicked him out. He didn't eat, he barely slept. He spent that entire time watching you for movement, and making snide remarks at Mansfield." Jo laughed quietly, before narrowing her eyes at Carter.

"Again with the girl talk." She said. He smiled at her before shrugging it off. Before either of them could say anything more, the door opened and Kevin came in carrying Jenna. Jo smiled. She had missed the kids desperately while she was away. Something about them made her feel even more at home. She smiled large at Jenna who reached out of her brothers arms and fell into Jo's lap.

"Hi Jenna." She said, pressing her nose into the baby's hair. She hadn't known what Carter meant when he and Allison were talking about the baby smell before Jenna was born; she understood now. Something about babies was new, fresh and untainted. She wouldn't admit it, but holding Jenna set off her biological clock, and she sneaked a glanced at Zane's legs out of the corner of her eyes.

Was she ready to have kids? Was Zane? Was she ready to have kids with Zane? The snooze alarm was hit on her alarm when she thought of little Zane's running around with her knack for guns.

S.A.R.A.H had informed them that Jenna's juice was ready and Jo took it from Kevin, watching as Jenna's chubby little fingers clasped Jo's finger as she gave her the sippy cup.

"Is that Zane?" Kevin asked, eyes landing on the previously mentioned pair of legs. Jo nodded. "Is he ok?"

"Just tired. Why is everyone asking that?" Jo answered, looking at Kevin.

"Surprisingly, Zane isn't asleep on our couch very often." Carter said. Jo smiled at her… boyfriend. She wanted nothing more than to be in the same room with him half the time, does that constitute a boyfriend. Would he be ok with boyfriend?

"When he wakes up, I need him to help on level three of diablo. It's killer." Jo's eyes rolled, boys and their video games. And then she swallowed the hypocritical feeling as other Zane had introduced her to Halo; Jo loved any and all things that could be blown up.

"Oh my family." Allison said as she came in through the door. Before she could put her briefcase down, Zane was sitting up, sleep ruffled and still slightly out of it.

"Thanks Allison." He said smiling. Jo however was staring at the right side of his face, biting her tongue to keep from laughing.

"You're welcome Zane. Because I didn't have enough trouble I had to add a 29 year old teenager to my family." Zane smiled before catching Jo's eyes.

"What Jo?"

"Carter…" She said, pulling everyone's attention to her. "I didn't know you had pillows with buttons shaped like flowers on them." She was still intent on Zane's cheek where the indent of a flower was a delicate shade of red against his sleep deprived skin. Zane, with his higher brain function and all, touched his cheek, causing all four people old enough to laugh and then glared down at the pillow.

Jenna reached out to Allison, leaving Jo babyless to stand up.

"I'll take him home." She said, yanking Zane off the couch. Zane frowned at her in thought as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Diablo." Kevin said. Zane looked over at her with wide excited eyes.

"They both need to rest Kevin. Zane can come back and play tomorrow." Allison said, smiling at her son. Jo yanked Zane's arms pulling him away from Kevin's game.

"How long was I asleep?" He asked.

"About an hour." She answered, leading him toward the door.

"Thanks S.A.R.A.H. You know I love you." He said, right as the door opened and Andy came in.

"As long as she doesn't love you back." Andy said, slipping by them without so much as a backward glance as he moved through the kitchen to his closet. Jo looked back at Carter.

"Your house is still getting more than I am." She said. Carter laughed, slipping an arm around Allison's shoulder as Jo and Zane made it to the outside stairwell.

"I can fix that Lupo." Zane muttered in her ear. And I look forward to it, she thought smiling at him.


	6. Chapter 6

Jo got Zane through his front door before his exhaustion set back in and collapsed on the couch. He groaned in annoyance as she dropped her bag and closed the door.

"Do you want coffee?" She asked.

"Sure." He watched her walk through the living, noting that she had closed the door and didn't seem to be going anywhere. "What are you doing?" He asked, still not thinking entirely clearly.

"Making coffee." She answered from the kitchen. He decided not to push it, leaning back and closing his eyes. The nap he had gotten at S.A.R.A.H helped slightly but he was still completely spent. If he was going to help fix Jo's problem he really needed that coffee. He opened his eyes as Jo placed his mug on the coffee table, and joined him on the couch.

"So." He said, reaching for the beverage. "Are you gonna stay here?" She looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

"What are you implying Donovan?" The mischievous little smirk on her face did wonders for his exhaustion. But before he tricked her into agreeing to be his girlfriend with copious amounts of sex, he needed to know if she was staying in Eureka.

"Whatever you want Jojo. No but really…" He put the mug down, shaking the exhaustion away and focusing on her. "You were brought back to Eureka mostly against your will. Are you staying this time or are you going to take off again?" He didn't need her to know that if she did take off, he was going to be hiding in the back seat and she would never get rid of him. Jo sighed and placed her mug next to his on the table.

"You know this was never about you right?" She reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Jo, be serious. You need to realize that it was about me. Or him." He looked at her, wetting his lips before he could continue. "It's stupid to be jealous of myself." He muttered. He was glad to see the soft smile that brought to her lips, before she bit her lower one.

"Zane. You don't need to be jealous of yourself." He huffed, looking past her too embarrassed to make eye contact. "Look at me." She pulled his chin over, looking eyes. "You don't have to be jealous of him. You are him." He relaxed slightly, looking for some hint that she was just saying this to relax him. "You are. Carter told me when we first got here, people are who they are. You and him, are the same person. You just have slightly different pasts." She scooted closer, pulling his hands into her lap.

"When you crashed the sky cruiser, Allison asked me if I was seeing what I wanted to see. I told her that I knew a side of you that was honest and good and that I had to believe it was still there." He snorted again.

"And you were wasting your time." He said smiling at her with teasing. He remembered the conversation when he had said that to her; claiming that he didn't have to be the guy he was.

"You were wrong Donovan. You are honest now. You pushed yourself for that mission and you earned that spot. People see the part of you that can be trusted now. The part of you I fell in love with, everyone sees that now Zane. You and him, you are the same person."

He looked up at her, then down to their entangled hands. Did the Enforcer just tell him that she loved him? He breathed in, really looking at Jo. She was looking back at him with a softness he had never expected to see in her face. He flashed back to the first day he met her. The other her.

Carter hadn't let her shoot him when he was in jail but it wasn't because he didn't want Zane injured. It was because he didn't want Jo to lose her job for killing a prisoner. That Jo, the Enforcer as she had become not long after that incident, never looked at him softly. The look this Jo was wearing, looking at him now, that look had been reserved for Taggart. But she apparently wasn't in love with Taggart because she turned down his proposal, stating that she wasn't ready for marriage and that they, she and Taggart where on different pages in their lives.

She had arrested him every day that week for stupid things like flirting with someone claiming sexual harassment.

"You aren't her." He said. He looked up at his Jo, the Jo that was here now, the one who had given him a chance. Then something clicked. "Maybe that is the difference." He saw the confusion flash through her eyes. "The difference between him and me."  
"Zane there is no…"  
"I meant the difference in the past. It's you. You are the variable here." He suddenly found himself in the excited haze of finally solving the equation that he had been working on for six months. "_You_ were with him, and I was stuck with the bitch queen. You may be the same genetically, physically but _you_ are not her Jo. In your time line you didn't reject me asking you out. But Bitch queen did. The difference between him and me is that he had you, and now that _I_ have you, I am him." He was over the moon. He had finally cracked that stupid problem; why there was a difference between him in different time lines. For some reason, not having Trevor Grant in her past made Jo despise him. When he finally smiled fully at her, he saw something behind her eyes. A problem she was now working on. "What?"

"What is the variable for your convictions?" He paused; that possibility had never really crossed his mind.

"He wasn't convicted?" She shook her head.

"Not once. Everything was alleged." He looked at, the worry in her eyes evident.

"Eh, deal with that later." He said, leaning in and grasping her lips with his, the coffee forgotten on the table.

Jo fell backward, relaxing for the first time in weeks as Zane's warmth bled into her. His tongue licked her bottom lip, and by reflex she opened her mouth allowing him to deepen the kiss. His hands slid down her sides, slipping under the hem of her shirt; her skin heated against his and her body responded more fiercely than she had anticipated. Her hands snaked around his neck as he trailed kisses down her jaw line. She arched against him, sliding her hands down his arms until her elbow hit the back of the couch.

"Need more room." She said, listening to how breathless she sounded. He grunted in response in her ear and clambered off her. He yanked her up with him, pulling her off the couch with enough force that she clamped her legs around his hips and smirked at him. His eyes had transformed from their normal sky blue to darker than Jo realized they could go. His hands slid down, hiking her further up onto his hips before leading them through his living room into the hall way.

Jo nosed along Zane's neck, breathing in that scent of him she had gotten earlier on his bike. She was also feeling rather adventurous tonight, and kissed ever so delicately right under his earlobe. She felt his head tilt to allow her better access, which she took in strides. She started sucking on his ear, pausing only to laugh as he stumbled into the wall. Before she had time for the sting in her knee to go away, Zane was leaning her backward, laying her down on the bed.

She pulled her head back, looking up at him as he straightened his arms. She watched, feeling her chest rising rapidly as his eyes landed on her breasts. He licked his lips as his eyes racked across her body and she launched herself to reconnect with him. He slid his arm around her upper back and laid her back down, hips pressed together. She moaned into him as her back arched, aching for more contact. Every cell in her needed this man. She felt his hand slide back up under her shirt caressing up her waist, her hands tangling into the short hair at his neck.

Suddenly, he tensed and not in the way she had anticipated. He started pressing kisses along her jaw line, and she blinked attempting to think through the Zane fog that had settled into her mind. She noticed the tensing in his arms and felt his torso lift ever so slightly from her. His hand slid back down her side and out from under her shirt. She was very confused. She could feel his own need for her pressing against her thigh through his jeans. Jo placed a hand on Zane's chest and pushed.

"What?" He asked. He was breathing just has heavily as she was.

"What are you doing?" He blinked at her for a second.

"Seducing you is it not working?" She saw the worry flash behind his eyes for only a brief second.

"I know you aren't thinking about my ribs right now." The response of him biting down on his lower lip was enough. She shifted her hips ever so slightly, making sure that what she felt was actually Zane pressing against her, and when she confirmed his own arousal, she shoved him off her.

"Jo." He said, begging to let him explain as he sprawled onto his back, his jeans doing very little to hide how turned on he actually was.

"Hey, if you don't want to have sex tonight that's fine with me." She said rolling off his bed and turning her back to him. She reached down pulling the edge of her shirt up exposing that sliver of lower back that he knew was one of her sensitive turn on spots. She inched the fabric up and over her shoulders, tossing the discarded piece of fabric to the floor. When Zane failed to provide a cocky response to the no sex line, Jo smirked to herself. He was right where she wanted him; she thought as she unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down, arching her back so that her ass was in a perfect place for him to stare.

She left the piece de résistance for last as she reached up pulling her hair tie out and letting her long locks brush freely down her back.

"You suck Lupo." He muttered just as his hands slinked around her exposed waist, slamming her back onto the bed. Her spike of desire far outweighed the slight shot of pain that went through her ribs. She loved it when Zane played rough. As she opened her eyes to look at him, he was currently eradicating himself of his own clothes and she smiled at him. "Don't play innocent and nice now." He said, dropping his jeans and rejoining her on the bed, only to exert his frustrations with her through a bruising kiss. She took the initiative this time deepening the kiss and pulling him down toward her. She could feel his muscles tense, fighting her and trying to keep his torso off hers, when she bucked her hips against him. He practically growled into her as their hips met, the friction causing him to lose momentary control as his arms went weak and his full weight crashed down on top of her. She laughed in his ear as her hands expertly removed his boxers from him.

"Not fair Lupo." He muttered, teeth clamping on her earlobe. Her back arched into him and his own expert hands had her bra unclasped and thrown across the room in the blink of an eye. The hand that had been supporting him came up to her breast, rolling her nipple between his fingers. Her breathed hitched against him as his thumb nail traced over her sensitive skin, causing her desire to heighten. Something about the chuckle that was breathed against her neck sent the message that Zane wanted to play dirty too.

"Who sucks now?" She said as he licked her ear and started trailing kisses down her collar bone. As he got down to the valley of her breasts, his trademark Donovan smirk flashed across his face.

"You think you like me cause I'm hot Lupo? Come on, you know better than that." He said, flicking his tongue out to her, smiling when she moaned and arched her back into him again. He pulled her into his mouth, satisfied when he felt her breath quickening again. The rough bandage pressed against his chin but he was over worrying about her ribs. His hand abandoned its play of her and moved down to the waist band of her boy shorts, slipping them down around her ass and she removed them the rest of the way, pulling his boxers with them leaving the bandage as the only thing separating them.

"You're kinda hot." She said, but she could tell the fact that she could barely breath made the insult only that much more enjoyable to him as he returned up her torso kissing along the other side of her collar bone. He moved up her neck, his hot breath returning that Zane fog she was so used to living in.

"You know Lupo, if you think I'm only kinda hot maybe I shouldn't be here." She laughed against his threat even as his hand came back up to massage her breast.

"Like you could walk away right now." She said, bucking her hips into him once against. His breathing hitched this time, Jo smiling as she felt him tense, in the better way this time.

"I won't ever walk away from you again." He said, wedging his knee between her legs, which she willing slipped from beneath him.

He rose up onto his elbows, shifting his hips and sliding into her in one perfected motion. Jo moaned almost a scream as her head fell back and her eyes closed. Zane smiled, relishing the fact that he was home in Jo where he belonged. He felt her around him, warm and inviting and he slipped out watching Jo's fingers tangle into the sheets.

He would never admit to her, but watching her prepare her body for him was something that he liked most about Jo. He watched as her breath quickened and her knuckles whitened on his comforter. Only when she let out that desperate little whine that sent him over the edge did he shove back in, her hips arching to meet him and causing him to grunt in response and he leaned back down pressing his lips against her to catch her next moan. Jo's desire aided him as she pressed up against him, meeting every thrust of his hips, and their sweat mixed along their naked torsos.

"Fuck Jo." He muttered in her ear as her fingers brushed against his nipples. He licked his lips, feeling her starting to tense. As she exploded, tightening around him, she screamed his name nails digging into his triceps as he thrust a few more times before joining her in the best ecstasy he had experience only a few times before; whenever Jo Lupo had been the one who caused it. He collapsed onto her, chests pressing against each other as he felt her relax as her orgasm subsided, the satisfied moans in his ear making him smile. He rolled off her, watching the bandage rise and fall as she tried to catch her breath.

Zane propped up on an elbow, brushing the hair off her face as her eyes slit open. She smiled contentedly up at him and rolled over, snuggling into the crook of his neck. His hand brushed her hair behind her shoulder and slid down to pull her closer to him, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"I was thinking." He stated, making slow circles on her lower back feeling the goose bumps rise under his fingers. She grumbled some response that he took to inquire into his thoughts. "Don't go back to S.A.R.A.H." She pulled back to look at him.

"I wasn't planning on going anywhere right now." That mischievous smirk that had blown away his exhaustion was back.

"I didn't just mean now." That whipped the smirk off her face. It was replaced by that adorable little frown she got when she was trying to process something. "Move in with me." He felt her entire body tense slightly and he tightened the arm around her back in response. "You already know this place better than I do most of the time." She smiled, looking down and started tracing circles on his chest. "Haven't you already lived here?" Her finger paused.

"No." She said quietly.

"So you lived at your house?" He asked.

"I did." This time, the processing look was on his face. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. "We never moved in together." That answer brought a smirk to his face. "What?" She said, tensing again obviously thinking he was thinking of some smart ass remark.

"I'm just happy I finally a get a real first with you." She smiled at him before leaning up and kissing him gently.


	7. Chapter 7

Jo woke wrapped in Zane's arms. There was that slight familiar feeling of 1947 being a dream was the first thought. As the night before came rushing back to her, she smiled snuggling into her Zane. She rolled over, feeling his arm tightened around her back. She reached up and brushed a piece of hair out of his eyes. They cracked open, that perfect blue shining back at her.

"Hey."

"Hmm." He leaned and kissed her. She smiled as she felt what else was begging entrance.

"I have to be at GD at 8." He frowned at her.

"That's enough time." He said rolling over and nuzzling into her neck.

"It's 7:15 and I have to go get my clothes at Carter's." She felt him frown.

"That sounds wrong." She smiled, wondering how much of this conversation he would remember when he actually woke up, not having to be at GD until about 9. She kissed him delicately on the cheek and shoved him off her. She laughed slightly when he didn't fight her and buried back into the pillow. Jo slipped out of bed and glanced around for where Zane had thrown her under things the night before.

By 8 o'clock on the dot she walked into Fargo's office, dressed once again in her black suits with a hunter green button up shirt on underneath.

"Hey Jo. I just need your initials here." Fargo said, handing her a stack of paper work very similar to what Zane's pardon had looked like. She smiled slightly at the thought of that day. Zane was far too worked up to care that the door to her office was unlocked. When she had asked him why he was smiling so big he had laughed and ran a hand over her stomach while they lay on the holding cell floor in her office.

_"If we had been doing that every time I was in here, I wouldn't have made such a fuss about you arresting me."_ _He yanked her waist, pulling her closer to him and kissed her breathless. He still had no idea what he meant to her, and how much she missed those kisses._

"Jo. You ok? You look… drunk." Fargo said. She nodded, still rather content with what had happened the night before.

However, the thought of moving in together made her stomach tie up in knots. She had never lived with Zane. True they had basically both lived in both houses, but if they were fighting there was always the possibility of her kicking him back to his place or returning to hers. If they moved in together, where would she run when she was mad? She dotted the I's and crossed the t's in her paper work and handed them back to Fargo.

"Welcome back Chief Lupo." She smiled at Fargo.

"It's good to be back Director Fargo." She said. Then she sighed. "I probably have a pile of things on my desk don't I?" Fargo's eyes brows shot up and he nodded. "Great." She said. "I'm going to get coffee before I attack that. Vinspresso?"

"No thanks. I got coffee earlier." He said, letting a sated smile of his own spread across his face. Jo was pretty sure that he and Holly were still enjoying their own desert most of the time as she walked out of his office and head to the loaner car GD had provided for her.

Zane was sitting at the counter in Café Diem when Emily dropped onto the stool next to him.

"Hey." She said, her perky smile matching the bottle blonde on her head.

"Hey." Vincent placed his order in front of him and he smiled in thanks.

"I haven't seen you since you disappeared from the Logic Diamond lab. What happened?" She asked, batting her eye lashes and brushing a hand down his arm.

"Well I waited in that lab for fifteen minutes, and you were like a kid in a candy store." He said, flashing his smirk at her. She blushed slightly but smiled back.

And that was the scene that met Jo as she walked through the doors of Café Diem for the first time in six weeks. True she and Zane hadn't talked about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend label, but he had asked her to move in with him.

"Hey Jo."

"Hey Carter." She said, quietly watching the exchange between Zane and the new face hitting on him so hard, Jo could tell what she was thinking from ten feet away.

"That's Emily. She's the new Geologist for GD." Jo nodded, attempting to keep the glare from her eyes and telling by the way Carter was laughing she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"OH MY GOD!" Vincent had vacated the refrigerator and spotted Jo standing in the door way. "Jo!" She noticed with pleasure the amount tension that struck the muscles of Zane's back at the sound of her name, but she didn't have time to comment on it, Vincent had her in a bone crushing hug; literally, her ribs felt like they were being broken a second time.

"Vince put her down." Vincent dropped her at Zane's command and his hand was under her elbow as little flashes of pain were blinding her.

"I'm so sorry Jo. What happened?" Vince asked, fluttering over Jo. She could tell that he wanted to offer her some comfort food or something.

"Three broken ribs." She said, blowing out her breath and looking up at Zane.

"You forgot your meds at S.A. . Allison has something to say about that." Carter muttered as he walked over to the counter.

"I'll get your smoothie." Vince said disappearing.

"And a Vinspresso." She called after him.

"Anything you want dear." Vincent called from the back room. Jo shook her head, pushing the pain to the back of her mind and turned on the terrified blue eyes that belonged to the man still supporting her by her elbow. She smiled sweetly at him, and he was smart enough to look even more frightened.

"Zane?" The sweetness amplified as the perky little Barbie wanna-be came over, lightly touching Zane's shoulder.

"Jo, this is Emily." Zane stammered, shifting positions to allow Emily into the small circle and snake his arm around Jo's waist. "Emily, Jo is the… um…"

"Head of Security for GD." She said, presenting her hand to the scientist.

"Hi. People have talked about you since I got here. Were you on Vacation?" Emily asked. She felt Zane's arm tighten around her, his fingers clamping onto the material of her suit jacket.

"In a sense." Zane's current demeanor and reaction to Jo finding him flirting with a blond did actually help the small amount of doubt she had had. However, it was obvious that this Emily had no idea of the relationship between them. She licked her lips silently and turned to Zane. "I was thinking about what you asked last night." His focus suddenly switched from terrified to incredibly interested as he looked down at her.

"Yeah?" His fingers loosened on her jacket as a small smile played across his perfect mouth.

"Only if it's at my house. If I get mad at you and can't shoot something, you will be dead in a matter of minutes." The triumphant look on his face crushed any other doubts that had sprung up in her mind. She knew Zane was attractive, hell that was why she agreed to go out with him in the first place. She knew that most people in GD, however socially awkward they might be were not blind to the same fact. She was just going to have to come to terms with the fact that he would come home to her every night.

"Man I want to squeeze you right now." He said, his eyes dancing around her face.

"Sorry. Vince beat you to it." She reached around him, pulling out of his arms and grabbed her drinks from Vincent.

"Sorry about that Jo." The chef said. She smiled an _it's-ok _look to him before turning back to Zane.

"So I figured that I would get the rest of my stuff from Carters tonight and we can move into my house when it's done." Jo noticed the fall to Emily's look, even more so as Zane brushed his hands down Jo's arms.

"Sounds good Jojo." He said, leaning in and kissing her gently. "Is there anything like a punching bag that needs to come?" He asked suddenly. The question threw Jo for a second.

"No."

"Good. Because you can't lift heavy things right now." Her response was to punch him in the arm. He smiled even bigger at the punch than he had before and kissed her again.

"I have to go. Don't get into trouble. Arresting you now that you're my boyfriend would be way worse than it was before." She said, kissing him again and turning to Emily. "It was nice to meet you Emily. I will see you at GD."

And then Jo walked out. Zane let out a huge breath has she left. The single punch because he had reminded her of her injury was not anywhere near as bad a blow up as he had expected when he realized she had walked in on Emily hitting on him and him not really doing anything about it. Speaking of Emily, the Geologist was looking at him with sad acceptance on her face.

"Should have known." She said.

"What?" He asked. He was still slightly buzzed from the fact that Jo had agreed to move in together.

"That a gorgeous brilliant man like you would be taken." Her eyes rolled. "I'm not usually on this end of it though. I am usually the one kissing them to piss the other girl off." She laughed slightly. Zane looked at her; no doubt she was gorgeous as well. But her eyes were blue, her hair was blonde and her skin was the color of cream. She wasn't the Latin goddess he had fallen oh so hard for the second his lips touched her. Any stunningly beautiful woman would never be his Jo Lupo.

"About that." He said. He knew that he had lead her on in a sense by not telling her about Jo and a part of him that he didn't like to admit was there felt bad about it. "Jo and I were in a sort of rocky place when you showed up. And when she got back she was injured and I didn't really do anything but stay with her…"

"Because you love her." Emily said. He looked up at her. He hadn't admitted it to himself, why had she said that. She smiled at his wide eyed expression. "It's sort of easy to see when you look at her. Does she know yet?" Zane shook his head. "Well, judging by the attitude change you had when she walked in, she can also beat the crap out of you. I suggest you tell her before she does." Emily leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'll see you at work Zane." She said, turning and leaving. Zane also noticed the eyes of every straight man in the room follow her out the door. He smirked; she'd be fine.

AN: Haven't posted it in a while, Eureka is not mine, I do not own it, I simply get to fool around with them.


	8. Chapter 8

Two weeks went by with Jo occupying Zane's bed every night. People noticed that the hard ass chief of security who had randomly returned to work after a five week sabbatical was less of a hard ass. She seemed more relaxed and the resident trouble maker was suddenly happier and less trouble.

"I don't care where you put it right now." She yelled from the kitchen. Zane was moving the boxes of his stuff around and Allison had allowed them to move him themselves. Her ribs were fine, mostly. They still ached a little but she hadn't had a bandage around them for three days. Zane had fussed about that last night and in response she hit his elbows causing his weight to slam into her.

"Stop yelling Jojo." He said, coming into the kitchen where she was brewing tea for her and had started some coffee as well. She spun, facing him and his stupid smirk.

"I thought you were upstairs." He placed the box he was holding on the counter and opened it, revealing the mugs he had kept in storage. Jo froze as he placed one of the mugs down on the table. "Are you sure you want those here?" Zane looked over at her, an eyebrow quirked in question. "I don't trust half the stuff here anymore and I don't want your grandmother's china to get destroyed." Zane paused and starred at her oddly before gently replacing the mug back into the box.

"You know, now that I live here I have no desire to burn it down again." He smirked back at her and her eyes rolled.

"Why did you pause?" She asked. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and blinked.

"When did he show you these?" The subject seemed sensitive to him and Jo couldn't put her finger on why.

"After Henry's ship returned." He blinked over to her confused. "You got electrocuted by a virus that had transferred to you through an organic computer." He nodded. Apparently that had happened as well. She swallowed and looked at him. "It was the first time we voiced that we loved each other." She said, blinking down to focus back on the tea she was making.

She wondered when and even if this Zane would ever say that word to her. Wondering if she even deserved it from him. True, she didn't think of them as _this_ Zane and _her _Zane anymore, but she also hadn't gone so far as to state the fact that she was still in love with him. She was going to let him take the lead again and let him say it first. Having been stuck together after the last time he balked at commitment was not something she looked forward to doing again. His snort of derision brought her attention back to him.

"She hand cuffed me to the bed thinking I had caused the virus." He said bitterly. God how she hated her other self. "Why did he say it then?" Jo breathed in, attempting to relax. She and Zane were living together as of today. He was moving the few possessions he couldn't live without into her house and the past, either of them, shouldn't be something that they were both too embarrassed to talk about.

"I brought him food." A care package that Vincent had been all too happy to make.

"I'm so predictable. What kind of food?" He asked. She felt that he was suddenly behind her and his arms were snaking around her waist.

"Egg salad." He hmmed in response. "Rocky road ice cream. Olives stuffed with blue cheese." That got a kiss right under her ear. "And toasted peanut butter and bacon." He had her spun around and pressed against the counter before she could think. She relaxed into his hands as tongue pressed into her mouth. The heat pooled in her and she had to pull away all too soon to breathe. She giggled.

"What?" He said. He had learned in the last two weeks that her giggle was rarely directed at him but some memory.

"If you had been able to do that last time, I am sure we would have ended up doing something rather naughty in the infirmary." He growled in response as his hips pressed against her. His teeth grazed her ear lobe and she moaned tugging on the hem of his shirt. Her back arched into his chest as she got the stupid shirt off him. She wasn't actually aware when her shirt joined his on the floor.

"That sounds…" He said, sucking slightly on the crook of her neck and his hand slide down to her breast. "fucking amazing." She laughed at him as she rubbed her hand along the outside of his jeans.

"Have you ever had sex on a rocking chair?" She asked. His hand, that had slipped under her bra, paused and he pulled back to stare at her.

"No. Have you?" She bit her lip and looked up at him and unzipped his jeans for him. "Was it me?" The small smirk that played across her lips was all he needed as an answer. Her smirk was no longer on her face because Zane's mouth was on her. She pushed him back toward the chair in the living room, tripping him on the way as she slipped his pants off him.

The shove to his chest had him in the chair and she smiled at him slipping out of her under things. She loved watching his eyes dilate when she did that. Zane licked his lips as she strutted over to him, climbing onto the chair and wedging her knees between his thighs and the arms of the chair. He did waste time taking her nipple into his mouth, slinking his arms around her waist and pulling him closer. She moaned and closed her eyes pressing her hands onto the back of the chair.

Zane's breath hitched as the rocking chair rocked his hips up against her. Jo smiled down at him.

"Told you." She said, shoving harder and causing the back of the chair to recline, she and Zane tumbling with it, pausing as the rocking stopped.

"This is gonna be too easy." Jo smiled at Zane's comment and leaned down to kiss him. She racked her nails down his chest to his hips. "Whose idea was this?" He asked in between kissing her collar bone as she slid her hand around him. She pulled up to look down at him.

"Mine." She smiled wickedly as she shifted and slide down, rocking the chair in the process. His hand clasped onto her hips hard enough to leave bruises. "Every time." She said breathlessly into his ear.

The next day, Jo was smiling stupidly at work. That is until the alarms went off. She was rushing down the halls to the elevator, punching in codes on her tablet to find the problem. She got to the elevator and frowned at her screen.

"Jo? What is going on?" Fargo asked slipping into the elevator just as the doors closed.

"It says there is a security breach in the Astraeus dock." She punched her code into the elevator and had it go directly to the launch bay.

"Why would anyone want to be in the launch bay? There isn't anything there anymore. Larry." Fargo had his phoned out and was barking orders at his assistant. When the elevator doors opened, Carter was waiting for her.

"We can't get it open." Allison was punching in code after code just trying to get the doors open. Jo walked up to the pad and punched in her security code. Nothing happened. She punched in Fargo's.

"How do you know my code?" Fargo asked, but Jo ignored him.

"Carter. Gun." Jo pulled out her hand gun and cocked it. Carter followed suit and Allison and Fargo took a step back. Jo glanced at her former partner and saw the slight nod to her question. They both fired, letting the bullets shatter the glass in the bay doors. Carter was in before her and she frowned slightly.

"Why didn't we just call Zane and have him hack in?" Fargo asked. He ran into Jo as he wasn't paying attention. Jo and Carter had stopped; sitting in front of them was the Astreaus.

"I thought you said that disappeared." Jo said, glancing at Carter.

"It did."

"How did that get back here?" Allison asked from behind her. Jo turned her back on the ship, planning on going to internally open the door from the inside. She spotted the unconscious body in the corner before she remembered what the clothes reminded her of. She knew those jeans.

"Zane!" There was too much blood on the floor. She was slipping in it as Allison rolled him over. His eyes were closed and the gash in his head was too big. She felt the hands on her shoulder, felt them pulling her back, felt the hug that was supposed to be reassuring as Allison was calling a team down to the launch bay.

"Allison's got him. If they could fix you, he will be fine in no time."

Allison glared at her patient, attempting to make him wake up so that she could let Jo in to take over the glaring. Zane had been down in the launch bay, alone when the Astreaus showed up and he was the only one who knew exactly what had happened.

When his heart stabilized, but he was still unconscious, she moved out into the hallway. Jo looked up at her; she was clutching Carter's hand so hard her knuckles were white and Jack looked a little in pain. She was also begging Alison with her eyes to tell her good news.

"He's stable. He hasn't woken up yet but the pulse wave that sent him crashing into that wall didn't do much other than a concussion." Jo breathed in, and her hand relaxed, falling out of Jack's.

"He is going to be ok?" Jo asked. Allison nodded and smiled down at the younger woman. Jo's faced shifted from worried to angry so quickly it almost made Alison laugh. "Until he wakes up. Then I'm going to kill him." With that statement, Jo stormed into the infirmary sitting down in the chair next to Zane's bed. Allison laughed briefly.

"You really want to let her be in there alone right now?" Jack asked, sliding is arms around her waist.

"He won't wake up for a couple hours."

"You are so dead!" Came ringing to them out the room in front of them.

"Or he could wake up now." Allison said, as she yanked out of his arms and ran in toward her patient. She was very prepared to tranq Jo if she needed too and Zane's heart beat was erratic. The doctor slid to a stop at the foot of his bed, desperately trying to hold back her laugh.

Zane's heart beat was fluctuating in time to Jo's hands running up his shirt and he was probably having some trouble breathing seeing as she had his lips in hers. Jo growled briefly before pulling away and sliding her hands off him. She glanced back at Allison, not even caring about the position they had been found in, and slumped back into a chair on the bed.

"If that is how you're planning on killing me, I think I'm ok with that." Zane muttered. Jo smacked him in the arm.

"Ok. Kissing is fine, don't hit him yet." Allison said. Zane's tired face split into a smirk as he looked at the doctor then back at his girlfriend.

"You heard her… kissing is fine." He said. Jo glared at him and when Zane realized she was truly angry with him he rolled his eyes and dropped the horndog act.

"Care to tell us what you were doing in the launch bay, alone?" Jo asked. Zane had to actually stop himself from glaring; the Enforcer was back in full force. For a moment he even thought she was going to lock him up. But then he caught the desperation behind her eyes and remembered that Jo showed emotion mostly through anger.

"I found the Trojan horse." He said, shifting so he could sit up. Jo pulled his pillows into a better position and briefly ran a hand through his hair. He smiled slight; Oh yeah, the Enforcer is gone.

"And that brought the ship back?" Allison asked. She had been the interim head of GD at that time, she still felt the loss of the ship was partially her fault.

"Sort of." Zane saw Jack shift closer and put his phone away. "I found the location the ship had been sent to. Well, the most advanced GPS locater was in the launch bay so I went there to plug in the coordinates. When I did, the FTL whirred and then I woke up here."

"Zane, the ship is back." Jo said.

"The FTL must have activated and thrown you into the wall on landing. Where was the ship?" Allison asked, whipping out her PDA.

"It was at the docks in Portland." He was met with silence. Allison and Jack were looking at each other, obviously trying to figure out why the ship was there.

Jo glanced at Zane, remembering the last time he was in the hospital. He had been injected with something when Allison had been hacked and he and Henry were unconscious, but she wasn't really sure why they had been in the infirmary. She remembered that day, Zoe was still mad at her thanks to Pilar. However, Jo had received a text in the last two weeks congratulating Jo on moving in with Zane. She had decided that she was going to see Zoe, or have Zoe come home when Beverly didn….

"What Jo?" Allison asked her. She hadn't realized she said Beverly's name out loud.

"What about Beverly. She took over Allison's brain the day she became interim head of GD and…"

"She is known to try and get a hold over Eureka."

"But why would she want the Astreaus?" Allison asked.

"Maybe she wanted the crew." Jack said slowly while looking over at Zane.

"Why would she want us?" He asked.

"Because it was Eureka's twenty greatest minds." Jo supplied quickly.

"Grant said something about Beverly wanting to complete her father's mission…" Allison said.

"The guys you shocked…" Jack supplied.

"To keep Scientific discoveries in check." Allison said. Zane had been glancing back and forth between the three. Even though he had been brought in on the secret thanks to Fargo and the possibility of death, and the group had seemed to except and trust him and he had spent a lot of time with the group, it still amazed him that they communicated so well.

In his memories, of the time line they didn't really remember, they hadn't communicated this way. He unconsciously gripped Jo's hand jealous of the partnership she had with Carter. To anyone on the outside, Jack and Allison were true partners in their lives. They figured out problems together and finished each other's thoughts. It hadn't occurred to Zane until just that moment how Carter had the same partnership with Jo, something Zane didn't have.

"I'll get an announcement out to keep a look for her." Jo said, leaning in and kissing him again. "Don't go anywhere near that ship." She said, the pure fury coming through her tone.

"Yes mommy." He said, smirking to lighten the mood and kiss her.


	9. Chapter 9

Jo walked into her office, massaging her shoulder only to find Senator Wen was standing at the door.

"Ms. Lupo." She said. Jo bit back her snarky response. She was still a Senator after all. "Thank god. Those people, who were they?" Wen asked, pacing the confines of Jo's holding cell. Jo however sat down. Mansfield was due any minute and Larry was waiting up on the helipad to welcome him and inform everyone to get to Fargo's office.

"I don't know who they were." She said, scanning the paperwork on her desk.

"They kidnapped me, I had no idea where I was."

"Mm-hm." Jo responded, absent mindedly signing a request for an equipment transfer.

"Ms. Lupo." Jo swallowed and blinked over to look at Wen. "You can let me out now. I'm a little confused as to why you didn't take me to the infirmary but I am fine."

Of course the woman was putting on her politician voice. She obviously hadn't seen Jo at the unit, nor did she realize that they had heard her conversation with Beverly before they tranqed her. Wen was looking at her with those eyes that said she expected whatever she was requesting.

"I'm sorry Senator," She said, putting as much sarcasm into the word as she could, "But it's really out of my hands." Jo said. Mansfield had been briefed and when Fargo and Jack had heard the Senator's voice through Jo's comm they had hit record. They had everything they needed to hand her over to Mansfield have her locked away in solitary for the rest of her life.

"Yes it is out of your hands. Unlock the door Ms. Lupo." Before she had a chance to respond her PDA beeped. Mansfield had landed and Larry was bringing him down to Fargo's office. Then it beeped again; Zane would meet her there.

"I have to go." Jo said, leaving Wen yelling as she left. The security guard stationed outside her office nodded. "Don't let her out until I get back."

Fargo's office was packed with people. Larry was apparently refusing to leave because he had already heard everything, Zane was sitting on the couch still in the clothes from the infirmary, Allison was there to keep Zane from either passing out or throwing up, Jack was there as a Security member, Andy was with Jack, Fargo was behind his desk speaking to Mansfield, and all of them looked over toward her when she walked in.

"Jo sit down." Allison said.

"I'm fine Allison, thank you."

"That wasn't a suggestion." Allison said, directing Jo to the couch with a surprising amount of strength. Zane's hand absently moved to Jo's knee as she sat down next to him and every one then turned to Mansfield.

"This is very disconcerting." He said before he said anything else. "The Senator in on it the whole time. She stole government money to kidnap people… Where she is Lupo?"

"In my holding cell, Sir." Mansfield nodded briefly.

"I want all of those recordings transfer to a jump drive for me and I will escort her back to Washington." Fargo started typing at the General's command, doing something Jo figured was to follow orders. "Sheriff Carter and Deputy Andy, I would like you there to assist with the transfer from Lupo's holding cell to the helicopter. Lupo how is your shoulder?"

"It's fine sir. Not even a scar just a little achy." She glanced at Zane who smiled slightly at her, and she laced her fingers through the ones on her knee.

"Sir." Carter said.

"You can go wait in Lupo's office." Carter and Andy nodded before departing. Jo was confused. If that was all the meeting was going to be why did Zane need to be here? "Lupo. Give me a run down."

Jo retold her tail as she was trained too, giving the logistics and tactics as they happened, from beginning to end. Even though half of the day was taped on the Jump drive Fargo had just handed to Mansfield, Jo didn't leave out a detail except those of her visions of a bleeding Zane. Those could stay in her head.

"Very well. Thank you Lupo." The general straightened his suit. "Mr. Donovan, I heard that you were the one who found the virus that led to the location."

"Yes Sir." Zane said, smirking but keeping his cocky attitude in check.

"Well…" The General looked rather uncomfortable. "The DoD thanks you." Zane had the peace of mind to looked shocked and slightly overwhelmed instead of saying something snarky.

In fact, he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't really think. Add the shock to his concussion and all he could do was nod at the man who hated him so much. He didn't notice that the general looked even more uncomfortable as he looked down to his shoes but Jo noticed. She placed her hand on Zane's thigh and glanced at Allison before looking back to Mansfield.

"Sir?" She asked. Zane refocused his fuzzy brain on the General.

"It's about your pardon Donovan." He knew that it was bad when Jo's hand clenched on his thigh. He couldn't quite understand why his pardon was being brought up.

"What about it?" Jo asked, formality gone in her sudden surge of anger.

"Well, it seems that in wanting to kidnap Eureka's greatest mind, and I do admit that when your brain isn't coming up with ways to screw your government it is genius, so that it seems that the Senator pushed through your pardon to make sure that you were on the ship when it disappeared."

Zane blinked, and he couldn't attempt to make sense of what the General just said because Jo's nails were digging into his leg.

"Jojo?" He called her attention to it, reaching down and pulling her hand off his leg to hold in hers.

"Sir." Allison said as Fargo was on his feet behind his desk.

"Dr. Blake we simply need to look into it."

"And if Wen did push the pardon through because of that?" Fargo asked. Jo was glaring at Mansfield and gnawing on her lower lip at the same time.

"If that is to be the case, then we will have to look at the pardon and possible repeal it."

"No." Jo was on her feet as Zane's head cleared enough to process what was being said; his freedom was being taken away again.

"Lupo this is sort of out of my hands." Mansfield said.

"No. Zane has done nothing wrong. He fought for the spot on Astreaus and he was the only one who worked on getting the ship back. He has been an asset to this facility and the crew since I…" Jo bit her tongue, glancing at Fargo. "Since he crashed the Sky cruiser and I stuck my neck out for him." She stammered.

"Sir, if my opinion as Medical Director counts and as interim Director of Global Dynamics, Zane's pardon should not be repealed."

"And as Director of this facility I second that opinion." Fargo said, moving around the desk and coming to stand between Allison and Jo.

"As Chief of Security I would put my opinion is but seeing as I live with the person in question, I am not sure it would be taken seriously."

"Do I get to put in an opinion here?" Zane asked from his spot on the couch.

"No." He frowned down at the four other people in the room.

"If I get a say in the process, because of Donovan's involvement in getting the ship back and exposing Barlow and Senator Wen, and the fact that it has caused him personal injury, I will recommend that the pardon stand."

"Ok… am I dying?" Zane asked, swaying slightly as a wave of nausea hit.

"No Donovan, you aren't dying. I see good where good shows." Jo smiled slightly at him, coming to help him sit back down. "I will keep you updated."

Jo opened the door allowing Zane to head straight for the couch and collapse. Her shoulder was aching and was tenderly touching the spot over his left eye where his head slammed into the wall.

"You are lucky." Jo said, curling up next to him. Zane looked down at the chocolate eyes shining back at him.

"I know." He smirked sliding a hand down the back of Jo's jacket. Her eyes rolled. Allison had put them on restriction for two days and Zane wasn't sure that promise was going to be able to be held.

"If the ship hadn't triggered the security alarm in the bay you would have bled out. Or slipped into a coma." Jo said, splaying her fingers across his cheek and pressing a kiss to his lips.

"You keep doing that and Allison's orders won't be heeded." He murmured, leaning down to catch her lips again.

Her fingers tangled into the hair at the nape of his neck, pressing herself against his arm before pulling away and leaning her forehead against his with eyes closed. She had to keep those eyes closed. If she opened her eyes and saw the stormy blue that meant that they needed to find a bed and now. She licked her lips and pulled away.

"Did you want something to eat?"

"Besides you?" She stood up moving out of reach of his arms. "Sorry. I'll be good." Zane said.

Jo smiled back at him as she walked into their kitchen. Later that night they would go to bed, in their room and when Allison cleared them, they would make love all weekend there. She smiled as she was filling the teapot. There was just the stress of living in Eureka every day and Zane's pardon issue hovering over their heads.


	10. Chapter 10

Jo walked into her office, massaging her shoulder only to find Senator Wen was standing at the door.

"Ms. Lupo." She said. Jo bit back her snarky response. She was still a Senator after all. "Thank god. Those people, who were they?" Wen asked, pacing the confines of Jo's holding cell. Jo however sat down. Mansfield was due any minute and Larry was waiting up on the helipad to welcome him and inform everyone to get to Fargo's office.

"I don't know who they were." She said, scanning the paperwork on her desk.

"They kidnapped me, I had no idea where I was."

"Mm-hm." Jo responded, absent mindedly signing a request for an equipment transfer.

"Ms. Lupo." Jo swallowed and blinked over to look at Wen. "You can let me out now. I'm a little confused as to why you didn't take me to the infirmary but I am fine."

Of course the woman was putting on her politician voice. She obviously hadn't seen Jo at the unit, nor did she realize that they had heard her conversation with Beverly before they tranqed her. Wen was looking at her with those eyes that said she expected whatever she was requesting.

"I'm sorry Senator," She said, putting as much sarcasm into the word as she could, "But it's really out of my hands." Jo said. Mansfield had been briefed and when Fargo and Jack had heard the Senator's voice through Jo's comm they had hit record. They had everything they needed to hand her over to Mansfield have her locked away in solitary for the rest of her life.

"Yes it is out of your hands. Unlock the door Ms. Lupo." Before she had a chance to respond her PDA beeped. Mansfield had landed and Larry was bringing him down to Fargo's office. Then it beeped again; Zane would meet her there.

"I have to go." Jo said, leaving Wen yelling as she left. The security guard stationed outside her office nodded. "Don't let her out until I get back."

Fargo's office was packed with people. Larry was apparently refusing to leave because he had already heard everything, Zane was sitting on the couch still in the clothes from the infirmary, Allison was there to keep Zane from either passing out or throwing up, Jack was there as a Security member, Andy was with Jack, Fargo was behind his desk speaking to Mansfield, and all of them looked over toward her when she walked in.

"Jo sit down." Allison said.

"I'm fine Allison, thank you."

"That wasn't a suggestion." Allison said, directing Jo to the couch with a surprising amount of strength. Zane's hand absently moved to Jo's knee as she sat down next to him and every one then turned to Mansfield.

"This is very disconcerting." He said before he said anything else. "The Senator in on it the whole time. She stole government money to kidnap people… Where she is Lupo?"

"In my holding cell, Sir." Mansfield nodded briefly.

"I want all of those recordings transfer to a jump drive for me and I will escort her back to Washington." Fargo started typing at the General's command, doing something Jo figured was to follow orders. "Sheriff Carter and Deputy Andy, I would like you there to assist with the transfer from Lupo's holding cell to the helicopter. Lupo how is your shoulder?"

"It's fine sir. Not even a scar just a little achy." She glanced at Zane who smiled slightly at her, and she laced her fingers through the ones on her knee.

"Sir." Carter said.

"You can go wait in Lupo's office." Carter and Andy nodded before departing. Jo was confused. If that was all the meeting was going to be why did Zane need to be here? "Lupo. Give me a run down."

Jo retold her tail as she was trained too, giving the logistics and tactics as they happened, from beginning to end. Even though half of the day was taped on the Jump drive Fargo had just handed to Mansfield, Jo didn't leave out a detail except those of her visions of a bleeding Zane. Those could stay in her head.

"Very well. Thank you Lupo." The general straightened his suit. "Mr. Donovan, I heard that you were the one who found the virus that led to the location."

"Yes Sir." Zane said, smirking but keeping his cocky attitude in check.

"Well…" The General looked rather uncomfortable. "The DoD thanks you." Zane had the peace of mind to looked shocked and slightly overwhelmed instead of saying something snarky.

In fact, he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't really think. Add the shock to his concussion and all he could do was nod at the man who hated him so much. He didn't notice that the general looked even more uncomfortable as he looked down to his shoes but Jo noticed. She placed her hand on Zane's thigh and glanced at Allison before looking back to Mansfield.

"Sir?" She asked. Zane refocused his fuzzy brain on the General.

"It's about your pardon Donovan." He knew that it was bad when Jo's hand clenched on his thigh. He couldn't quite understand why his pardon was being brought up.

"What about it?" Jo asked, formality gone in her sudden surge of anger.

"Well, it seems that in wanting to kidnap Eureka's greatest mind, and I do admit that when your brain isn't coming up with ways to screw your government it is genius, so that it seems that the Senator pushed through your pardon to make sure that you were on the ship when it disappeared."

Zane blinked, and he couldn't attempt to make sense of what the General just said because Jo's nails were digging into his leg.

"Jojo?" He called her attention to it, reaching down and pulling her hand off his leg to hold in hers.

"Sir." Allison said as Fargo was on his feet behind his desk.

"Dr. Blake we simply need to look into it."

"And if Wen did push the pardon through because of that?" Fargo asked. Jo was glaring at Mansfield and gnawing on her lower lip at the same time.

"If that is to be the case, then we will have to look at the pardon and possible repeal it."

"No." Jo was on her feet as Zane's head cleared enough to process what was being said; his freedom was being taken away again.

"Lupo this is sort of out of my hands." Mansfield said.

"No. Zane has done nothing wrong. He fought for the spot on Astreaus and he was the only one who worked on getting the ship back. He has been an asset to this facility and the crew since I…" Jo bit her tongue, glancing at Fargo. "Since he crashed the Sky cruiser and I stuck my neck out for him." She stammered.

"Sir, if my opinion as Medical Director counts and as interim Director of Global Dynamics, Zane's pardon should not be repealed."

"And as Director of this facility I second that opinion." Fargo said, moving around the desk and coming to stand between Allison and Jo.

"As Chief of Security I would put my opinion is but seeing as I live with the person in question, I am not sure it would be taken seriously."

"Do I get to put in an opinion here?" Zane asked from his spot on the couch.

"No." He frowned down at the four other people in the room.

"If I get a say in the process, because of Donovan's involvement in getting the ship back and exposing Barlow and Senator Wen, and the fact that it has caused him personal injury, I will recommend that the pardon stand."

"Ok… am I dying?" Zane asked, swaying slightly as a wave of nausea hit.

"No Donovan, you aren't dying. I see good where good shows." Jo smiled slightly at him, coming to help him sit back down. "I will keep you updated."

Jo opened the door allowing Zane to head straight for the couch and collapse. Her shoulder was aching and was tenderly touching the spot over his left eye where his head slammed into the wall.

"You are lucky." Jo said, curling up next to him. Zane looked down at the chocolate eyes shining back at him.

"I know." He smirked sliding a hand down the back of Jo's jacket. Her eyes rolled. Allison had put them on restriction for two days and Zane wasn't sure that promise was going to be able to be held.

"If the ship hadn't triggered the security alarm in the bay you would have bled out. Or slipped into a coma." Jo said, splaying her fingers across his cheek and pressing a kiss to his lips.

"You keep doing that and Allison's orders won't be heeded." He murmured, leaning down to catch her lips again.

Her fingers tangled into the hair at the nape of his neck, pressing herself against his arm before pulling away and leaning her forehead against his with eyes closed. She had to keep those eyes closed. If she opened her eyes and saw the stormy blue that meant that they needed to find a bed and now. She licked her lips and pulled away.

"Did you want something to eat?"

"Besides you?" She stood up moving out of reach of his arms. "Sorry. I'll be good." Zane said.

Jo smiled back at him as she walked into their kitchen. Later that night they would go to bed, in their room and when Allison cleared them, they would make love all weekend there. She smiled as she was filling the teapot. There was just the stress of living in Eureka every day and Zane's pardon issue hovering over their heads.


	11. Chapter 11

Jo pushed her hair back into her pony tail after she had stopped the argument down in Section 2. Her forearm was hurting from where the chemical explosion had burned her slightly and she was far too angry to think about going to see Allison. She turned the corner into her office and froze. Zane was sitting in her chair with his feet propped up on her desk.

"If you are thinking about trying what got interrupted this morning, I suggest you think again babe." She said, stripping her jacket off and throwing it on the couch. Their shower this morning had been interrupted with a phone call about the scientists who had stayed in GD overnight attempting to finish their work and then gotten into a full blown argument over one stupid number in their equation and started throwing beakers at each other.

"Wasn't thinking about it." He said, shaking his head.

"Then what exactly are you doing here?" He simply smirked at her irate mood and took his feet off her desk. She took a deep breath in and let her anger out, promising not to take it out on Zane, it wasn't his fault.

"I heard from Mansfield today." With those five words, her anger was replaced with nervousness.

"And?" She asked, slowly coming around her desk.

"And I have a question for you Jojo." His face was slightly blank.

"What sort of question?" He licked his lips briefly, before reaching over and removing an envelope from her desk.

"Don't hate me?" He handed her the envelope, the paper torn from where he had eagerly opened it to find out his fate. Jo breathed in and looked at him before slowly pulling out the folded letter inside.

"Dear Mr. Donovan,

It is with great pleasure that we are writing to inform you that your pardon is hereby affirmed"

She couldn't read anymore as her hands were shaking.

"Why would I hate you?" She asked, removing the paper from her field of vision and looking to him. But he was no longer in his chair. He was kneeling in front of her, a horrified look on his face.

"For surprising you again." He said. He nodded at the envelope again and she opened I to look inside. The light caught the reflection of an all too familiar pain in her ass. "I know you don't like surprises Jo, but really, isn't that the man's prerogative?" She dumped the ring into her palm and looked down at him. Beverly had died six months ago and they had been waiting for news of the status of his Pardon.

"Did you know how big of a pain in my ass you are?" Jo looked down, closing her hand around the ring as she did. "You never clean up after yourself when you cook. You leave clothes in the hallway, especially if I have just gotten out of the shower, and you never throw out the empty milk carton."

Zane was confused and she could tell it. He hadn't even told her that he loved her yet and here he was on his knees with his heart in his hands again.

"Is that a yes or a no?" She was staring at Zane and she wasn't sure if he was the one who asked her not. Leave it to him to surprise her and pick the worst morning of her life to do it.

"I thought I already answered this question." She shoved opened her hand again, having slipped the ring onto her finger as Zane's face split into the most knee weakening smile Jo had ever seen.

And then he was kissing her, her feet were off the ground and there was clapping. When Zane put her down he smiled over her shoulder. She turned, following his eye sight. Fargo winked at her, Holly was clapping ecstatically, Allison was smiling and leaning her head on Jack's shoulder who was smiling at her with that stupid all-knowing-so-happy-you-didn't-fuck-this-one-up smile of his, Henry was laughing and Grace was practically crying. In response to their audience, she punched Zane in the shoulder. He then kissed her.

"Someone call Vincent. He is waiting on a cake order." Jack said.

"Did you get everyone in on this?" Jo asked, just as her phone buzzed. A "You better say yes" from Zoe. "That answers that question." Zane wrapped Jo in his arms, pulling her close to him.

"I love you Jojo." Her eyes fell closed. It had taken a year and a half to get back to where she should have said yes to his proposal before. A year and a half to get back where she felt home; where everything felt right. She pressed a kiss to his neck, breathing in his cologne and squeezed. She was never letting him go again.

"I love you Zane. I never stopped." Her phone buzzed again.

"Good job Jo. Congratulations. I better be in the wedding." Jo laughed at Zoe, assuming Carter had texted her and moved around the desk to the hugs and congratulations from their friends.


End file.
